Category: video

29 Mar

Gettin Maddie With It

Here’s the thing. I have a lot of things to write about, but my lack of posting in the past two weeks can be attributed to both being super busy and perhaps poorly managing what little free time I did have.

Lots of posts on the way in the coming days. Promise. To make it up to you, here’s some delayed content from last weekend featuring baby video. Who doesn’t like baby video?

I was down in Richmond for a little family get together, which included a little girl who is quickly becoming my favorite niece. It’s possible I only have one, but she loves playing a game where she brings you items and then puts them all back where they started. As someone with a slight tilt toward neat-freakness, these are skills I admire.

With the cars all put away, we were able to get in a jam session on the piano. I apologize for the camera work in this one. It’s slightly difficult to frame a shot when you can’t see it while simultaneously trying to play with a child and the piano.

The final video features a wardrobe change, downing a giant piece of banana and her taking interest in a game involving a ping pong ball and a cup. The bigger kids (mostly adults) struggled to succeed with this game, but she shows us we were just making it too hard by standing too far away.

Coming soon: a major update on the writing project, thoughts on the final two books in the Hunger Games series (and possibly the movie), some Mega Millions happenings and exciting new stuff at Taco Bell.

Stay tuned.

By cjhannas family Uncategorized video
03 Mar

Capital Loss

Things are not too happy in Caps land these days. A talented team with very high aspirations has spent the season squandering opportunities, rekindling hopes with small winning streaks and responding with games that seem to completely lack any effort.

Last night I attended a game they lost 5-0. It was still a good time at Verizon Center, but not an inspiring thing to watch.

This video pretty much sums up the entire game. You can hear the P.A. announcer running through the details of a goal the visiting Devils just scored, followed by the standard “WHO CARES?!” response from the Caps fans. At this point the game was only 2-0, so the sarcastic refrain was still welcome and funny. Of course the chant had barely ceased by the time the Devils scored again:

The guy sitting next to me heartily enjoyed the “WHO CARES?!” the first two times, but didn’t participate himself. After the goal you just saw — which made it 3-0, no longer time to be taunting — he decided to jump in, even as the rest of the arena stayed mostly quiet.

The good thing about going to Caps games is that overall experience is one of the best I’ve ever experienced. When the professionals are playing so badly they get booed off the ice after the second period, and welcomed the same way when they return for the third, you can always count on the kids who play during intermission to give you some joy.

I wonder how long it took to settle on the “Benny Hill” music as the standard background for this event? I’m guessing about -12 seconds.

By cjhannas hockey Uncategorized video
08 Jan

Call Me Aunt Clara

When I was a sophomore in college, I purchased a baby-size bunny suit off eBay.

It cost me $4 and has become a fixture of our family Christmas since that first year when I gave it to my little brother. I wanted to get a full-size suit so that he could be just like Ralphie from “A Christmas Story,” but those proved to be prohibitively expensive, so I settled for the mini version.

It was sufficiently funny.

Since then, whoever got it the previous year has passed it on, giving a certain sense of anticipation to every gift you get with the chance of finding a bonus bunny suit inside. Even those who are new to the family get indoctrinated into the tradition, like my sister-in-law Bethany at her first Christmas with us:

But this year, all of my dreams came true. We finally found someone who could actually put this thing on. My niece Madelyn didn’t make the trip for Christmas last year, but this time around not only came, but happened to be the perfect size. Who knew I would pick correctly back in 2002?

Can’t wait to see who she gives it to next year.

By cjhannas Christmas family Uncategorized video
18 Sep

Strasmas

Last year I saw Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg strike out 10 batters in his electrifying second start as a major league pitcher.

Then he hurt his elbow, had surgery and spent months outside of my baseball-watching world. Until last night.

Strasburg walks to the dugout after pre-game warmups

I had a ticket to check out his previous start, which happened to fall on a workday and during a week in which it rained constantly in the Washington, D.C., area. I figured there was no way they would actually play the game, and decided to grab a few more hours of sleep before my overnight shift instead. They played.

The next night was one of the games in our 14-game ticket package. It rained, but we made the effort to go into the city determined to watch the game, which of course was canceled before we even made it to the stadium. Fortunately though, we were able to trade those tickets in for any future game and ended up with a Strasburg start.

Our normal seats are down the third base line, so it was extra fortuitous that the replacement tickets just happened to put us right next to where Strasburg was warming up before the game. Here’s that, plus what he does best — striking people out to end innings:

He ended up pitching six innings, allowing one earned run on four hits and striking out three.

The Nats lost the game in 13 innings, but I was able to see a few interesting things along the way that had nothing to do with the game. First, there were two ceremonial first pitches. I didn’t know that was technically possible. In the bottom of the 12th inning, the remaining fans mounted an impressively long version of the wave that seemed to grow stronger and stronger each time it went around the stadium. That is, until Jayson Werth struck out looking, immediately everyone so much there was no will to continue.

There was also the unprecedented second running of the Presidents Race, which typically happens in the middle of the fourth inning. But with the game stretching deep into the night (actually it was pretty quick for a 13-inning game), the presidents made it out for a second run. I took video of the first one, which will surely satisfy your lifelong desire to see a leprechaun tackle Teddy Roosevelt:

If you are into such things there is a blog devoted entirely to the Presidents Race. And yes, I’m jealous I am not responsible for it.

By cjhannas baseball Uncategorized video
04 Sep

Lifehouse In The Nats’ House

[Lots of people ending up here from Google searches — 2012 NatsLive info here]

Last night I had one of the best baseball game experiences of my life.

It started with a rookie pitcher who in his first Major League start threw two no-hit innings, then hit a 3-run HR in first first at-bat. On the very first pitch he saw. Which I (sort of) predicted:

Bro: “Oh the pitcher’s up.”
Me: “We haven’t seen him hit, he might be good.”
Bro: “True…”
Me: “If I see a pitcher homer in his first big league at-bat I’m never coming to a game again. I’ll never see anything better than that.”

I guess predicting the future happens to be in our genes. Late in the game, with the Nationals trailing by two runs, my brother said Ryan Zimmerman would hit a walk-off home run. He later amended that to just a walk-off hit.

Ninth inning. Bases loaded. Ryan Zimmerman hits a single. Two runs score. Nationals win.

The game itself would have been high on the list of great experiences, but these tickets we bought back in March just happened to fall on a day when the Nats were having a post-game concert featuring Lifehouse.

That would be Lifehouse, one of my favorite bands. (Yeah yeah, not a universally accepted choice, but I like them, so whatevs.) They’re best known for their hit song “Hanging By A Moment,” which came out when I was a senior in high school:

When I heard they were playing after the game I figured they might do four or five songs, but they ended up playing 12 in all. I was slightly disappointed they didn’t hit my favorite one, but I’m not about to argue about a free concert. One of the big worries about hearing a band you like play in person for the first time is the fear that they will be terrible live, but fortunately I thought Lifehouse was fantastic last night.

Here’s a medley of the show (minus “Nerve Damage” which I failed to record at all):

For people who care about such things, the set list was:

-All In
-Spin (which I used in a montage in my documentary)
-Nerve Damage
-You and Me
-Whatever It Takes
-Wrecking Ball
-Beast of Burden (Rolling Stones cover)
-Falling In
-Hanging By A Moment
-Halfway Gone
-First Time
-Broken

By cjhannas baseball music Uncategorized video
27 Aug

Hits Keep Coming

This may come as a great shock, but as a child I was a bit of a goofball.

That’s me at baseball practice at the age of 10. It’s from a tape I found recently that my coach had made of each of us hitting. I imagine nowadays it would be some slickly produced highlight video with a pulsing soundtrack, but back then it was cool to be able to watch ourselves play.

My brother I went to some batting cages yesterday to take some swings and see if we could actually still hit long after the glory days of our baseball-playing years. I brought along a camera, and it was interesting to see how things haven’t changed much. Sure, I’m stronger, have a little more swagger in my stance and definitely look better in HD, but all those swings as a 10-year-old certainly laid the foundation.

A little from then and now:

The old video also showed that my penchant for neatness is nothing new. I had forgotten about my habit of cleaning off home plate whenever it was my turn during batting practice:

Someone had to do it, right?

By cjhannas baseball Uncategorized video
05 Aug

Watch and Learn

I know after my stellar effort hosting a fake infomercial the world has been clamoring for more.

Lucky for you there is another video in the same vein, this time with me hosting a series of important instructional videos. If you never figured out how to drive a nail with a hammer, read a digital clock or use a faucet, this is the video for you.

It again features Dave, this time as my student, and our friend Justin does some camera work. You’ll notice a few rough edits throughout the video, which is mainly due to the fact that the entire thing is basically ad-libbed and we just couldn’t make it through without laughing. That will be really clear when you see the bonus blooper video afterward.

Sit back and learn:

Things may have gotten a little silly during the shoot. If I were an SNL cast member, people would definitely complain about my laughing during sketches:

By cjhannas Uncategorized video
05 Aug

Ukraine is Strong

Back in high school, my friend David and I used to borrow his parents’ video camera and make creative videos as a way to pass time, have fun and learn how to edit.

Actually, “make” creative videos might not be as accurate as “thinking about making” creative videos. A lot of times we would be hanging out at his house and have the following conversation:

Dave: “Dude, we should make a video.”
Me: “Yeah, definitely.”
Dave: “Do you have any ideas?”
Me: “No, you?”
Dave: “No.”
Me: “Cool.”

We would look around the room and flip through TV channels looking for inspiration, and sometimes, as in the case I’m about to show you, we could come up with a concept we thought we could actually pull off.

This video I believe was done during our senior year of high school. I’m pretty sure about the high school part, and based on my car I walk by in the beginning and my seeming lack of braces, that timeline would fit. It would also make it one of the first videos we edited in Adobe Premiere, which has been used for the majority of what I’ve shared here.

Without further ado:

Don’t worry, mom. Unloaded BB gun.

By cjhannas car high school Uncategorized video
24 Jul

A Kool-Aid Miracle

I’ll forgive you if you are unaware that I am an infomercial superstar.

After all, my most famous ad was done under the pseudonym Ricardo Simones and it’s possible you weren’t totally sure about our uncanny resemblance.

The infomercial was for a product called the 48 Hour Miracle, a diet drink that promised to help people lose 20 pounds in just two days. In reality, it was really just green Kool-Aid, but for two easy payments of $14.95 it was definitely worth a shot.

We made the ad for a public relations class in college. It was part of a much larger project to create a campaign for a made-up product, and when the option for making a video was presented there was little doubt ours was going to be awesome.

It’s longer than others I have posted here — about 5 minutes — but I think it definitely captures a lot of the stereotypical cheesiness of the genre. For those who went to Susquehanna, we shot the “studio” portion in the basement of the library and the “before” pictures outside a room in Smith Hall.

To me it’s really obvious but since a lot of people ask, yes that is my “announcer” voice at the end.

Hurry while supplies last.

By cjhannas Susquehanna Uncategorized video
02 Jul

Build This House With Me

I took a video editing class in college that included a project to make a two-minute trailer for the movie of your choice.

It wasn’t about recreating the real trailer, but rather doing whatever you wanted to make it your own. On the surface this sounds really easy, but distilling a two-hour film down to a trailer that highlights enough to get people interested without giving too much away is a bit tough.

Neither I nor most of my group had the least bit of preference for which film to tackle, so we ended up going with Jason’s pick of “Life As A House.” This added another layer of difficulty since I’m pretty sure none of the rest of us had ever heard of the movie, let alone seen it.

Fortunately the local video rental place had a copy — VHS I believe — and a few viewings later we came up with this:

At gunpoint I could recite this entire thing word-for-word. I may have seen it a few too many times.

I’m especially proud of the ending, where Kevin Kline’s character is smashing all the little models to the beat of the music as if they are drums. This is one of those happy accidents that pops up in creative ventures sometimes. As I recall, the footage just happened to almost line up when we first cut it, so it was just a matter of tweaking things a bit (like slowing down the last shot) to get it just right.

So how did we do? Here’s the actual trailer from 2001:

We didn’t watch the real one until after ours was done. We felt like they told a totally different story, one that seemed to put a happier spin on the movie than what was actually there. Maybe they thought more people would want to go see it that way.

Things didn’t go so well at the box office though. Maybe they should have hired us instead.

By cjhannas movies Susquehanna Uncategorized video